Möbius
by Sir Teatei Moonlight
Summary: [Pregame to Postgame, Spoilers] Shameless wish-fulfillment AU in which Melia learns the plot of the game before it occurs and decides to do something about it. Slightly undercooked. (Rated T for the kind of stuff seen in-game.)
1. Recursion

A little bell rung as Melia stepped into the odds-and-ends shop. The place was crammed with the smell of dust and mounds of stacked boxes, many of them battered and bent. It wasn't really a place she belonged, but that was kind of the idea - to buy herself something strange and unusual for her otherwise-uncelebrated 83rd birthday.

The shopkeeper, a large middle-aged man, half-heartedly waved at her from behind the counter. She responded in kind, glad to not be bothered, and started searching.

Most of the secondhand stuff was unremarkable - scissors with loose joints, birdiebanks with minor cracks, electronics with stuck buttons, all sorts of things that the seller didn't care to fix but a buyer could appreciate paying less for. It was a weird collection for her to take in, given that as royalty she would rarely see items of any less than top quality.

After several minutes of looking around, Melia found something that caught her eye as weirdly unique. Stacked under various larger boxes of video game consoles was a white box displaying the grey text "Wii". This was extremely surprising because it was written in Common - to her knowledge, all of the major electronics companies exclusively used Erythscript in marketing.

She carefully extracted the box from the stack and opened it up. Loosely scattered around the inside were various pieces of the console: a large box with a disc slot, three differently-shaped white controllers, and power and image cords. It was evident from the emptiness that some major pieces were missing.

"Oh that thing." The shopkeeper cleared his throat. "I keep forgetting we have it, it's been here for so long."

"What do you know about it?" Melia replied.

"Just that it's weird in every way. Not made by any company I've ever heard of. Weird letters on the buttons. The eject doesn't work so the only disc you can use is the one stuck inside. Can't even use ether crystals to power the controller, it has a nonstandard hole for it, and ether cylinders are too big to fit. It'd be a real fixer-upper."

Melia checked under the console to find nothing hidden. Whatever problems the system might have, the weirdest thing was that it felt like it was calling to her, like it had something very important locked inside.

Well, she didn't come here to buy something normal. "How much?"

The shopkeeper seemed surprised and shrugged. "How 'bout a hundred? It'd be worth triple in working order but I'd be glad to be rid of it."

"Done." Melia closed the box and handed over the cash, determined to discover the secret of the strange item.

* * *

It turned out to be surprisingly easy for Melia to jury-rig the device into operation. The image cord had three coloured ends that didn't match the input ports of the computer monitor in her chambers, but some digging through various part storage rooms turned up a suitable string of converters. And while it had taken a while to find some of correct size and power, she eventually collected two electric gem fragments of close-enough size and shape from the refuse of failed crafting attempts and plugged them into the straight controller. Most people wouldn't have the resources to do both, so it wasn't a surprise that the console had gone unused for so long.

She plugged the console into the wall and turned it on. With the disc slot glowing blue, an image of twelve smaller monitors came up on the screen, the top-left one filled in with an image and the rest a blank white.

_I presume the filled-in item represents the loaded disc._

With the straight controller's first blue light on and steady, she tried pressing various buttons to select the first item. None of them appeared to do anything. This was not a huge surprise, given the amount of empty ports on the console strongly suggested many necessary equipment was missing, but it didn't deter her. She next tried plugging the odd half-controller with a single joystick into the first one and fiddling with it, but it also did not respond.

The flat gamepad with two joysticks and many buttons was more successful. Connecting it to the straight controller caused a numbered cursor to appear on the screen, which moved with the left stick. She navigated the pointer to the coloured window and eventually found the correct button to access it.

_..."Xenoblade Chronicles". Interesting._ The enlarged scene wasn't actually too interesting: a red sword-like object stuck in the ground of a generic-looking landscape. But somehow the name and image struck a chord in her mind. There was something oddly familiar about it all, but she had no idea what it could be.

She pressed the "Start" button and allowed the game to load. All three save files were empty, so she created a new one and began it.

Melia's immediate reaction to the opening cutscene was that this game was Homs-made. The universal usage of Common text and speech, plus the typical plot of Homs with Monado versus Mechon, made it almost impossible that it was a High Entia creation. But she didn't think Homs had invented microchips yet, let alone video games. The only possibility that seemed likely was that it was the work of someone's Homs spouse, but even that wouldn't explain how one person could have sourced the various voices or completed all the modelling themselves - and the number of _anyone_ that had been to Sword Valley was tiny, so to see it relatively accurately protrayed was even more unbelievably improbable.

She fumbled through the initial tutorial. She'd never played a video game before, so most of her time was spent learning how to hold a controller and where buttons were located. At least it appeared impossible to lose at this point, so she could take as much time as necessary.

The plot was basic so far. Midway through the subsequent cutscene, she expected the story to jump ahead to the next Mechon attack, and would bet money that the traitor Mumkhar was not dead and would reappear later. Dunban and Dickson she gave even odds to having further roles; they both seemed candidates to be dead inspirations or living mentors.

Then, one year later, she was introduced to Shulk and Reyn.

Melia stared at the image of Shulk's face. Something was intensely familiar about it, despite never having seen him before. Reyn was giving off a similar but dimmer feeling.

_This Shulk is likely the protagonist. Why do I feel so much familiarity with him, as I did with the game in general before beginning to play?_

She tried to shake it off and continued. Colony 9 looked quite realistic, despite the console's technical weaknesses, compared to the Colony 7 Melia had once visited on her father's orders to secretly evacuate from Mechon destruction. It was oddly satisfying to wander around a Homs colony in a peacetime state.

The odd familiarity peaked again when Fiora was introduced, and seeing Dunban with an injured arm somehow made him feel the same way, even though he hadn't seemed so earlier. It was like specific characters were walking pieces of déjà vu, and it was getting somewhat annoying at this point.

Then, there was a cutscene where Reyn goofed around with the Monado, and Shulk was about to put it back where it belonged when he started seeing strange, unexplained scenes from elsewhere.

Melia wasn't too invested in the scene to begin with; it looked like some sort of foreshadowing, intentionally going by a bit too fast to take in properly. But then she saw something that instantly demanded all her attention.

She fumbled the buttons to try and find one that would pause the cutscene, missing what came next as she did so, and by the time she found the correct one the only thing visible was a set of bloody claws.

_...what in the name of Bionis is going on here._

She thought she had seen herself in the game.

She immediately jammed the console's reset button and reloaded her last save, hovering her thumb over the pause button ready for it to happen again. She didn't miss this time.

It wasn't even an approximation. The hair, the outfit, what little was visible of the staff - everything had been flawlessly recreated. Whoever had made this game had produced a perfect replication of her.

Melia sat staring at the motionless screen for several minutes. What were the odds of someone creating an original character that happened to match her exactly? Far too low to consider. Someone had seen her in public - during one of her excursions pretending to be a normal citizen - and decided to place that likeness into the game they were making. And even that seemed impossibly unlikely - hadn't the game been sitting in the shop since before her adulthood?

Having spent a while recovering from the shock, she unpaused the game only to be forced to pause it again seconds later. The very next cut even more prominently displayed her father's face, almost exactly as he appeared now. It was impossible to compare whether it was a bigger surprise, but it was certainly on the same level; including the likeness of a current or recent emperor in a work of fiction was quite rare in general, as many authors feared claims of libel.

Initially, Melia was only planning to experiment with the console until she discovered why it felt strangely familiar. But now that she had seen both her father and herself in the game, either of which was astronomically unlikely individually, she made a new plan: play the game to the end as quickly and completely as possible, and discover why and how these unbelievable coincidences came to pass.

* * *

Melia frowned and jotted a negative sign in her notes. She hadn't expected Reyn to dislike Poisonous Gourds. It was easy to fix of course, she just fed him another Spicy Cabbage instead. Sometimes there was no accounting for taste.

The desk was covered in papers. Some listed the patterns in what each of Shulk's party members liked to receive as gifts, while others recorded the materials various lesser characters were offering for trade, and even more kept track of enemy characteristics such as directional defenses. She was confident that the janitors who cleaned her chambers wouldn't read the notes; she just had to be careful if any family members came to the room, as she wasn't about to reveal she'd spent most of her free time playing a video game for the past several days.

The plot was starting to become further unsettling. Metal Face being Mumkhar was a given at this point, though the game wasn't admitting it yet. More disquieting was a recent major story vision from Shulk, in which she saw herself and her father atop Prison Island with an imprisioned Giant, with the vision being followed by a Telethia appearing to inform Alvis of something. Alvis in general was rather disturbing; she recognized his voice quickly when he spoke to a dreaming Shulk much earlier, and seeing a third known person in the game was even more difficult to believe. She even thought she'd heard her own voice come out of her likeness, but it would take too much effort to replay the major battles necessary to see the cutscene again, so she would be patient for it to happen for real later.

After some further experimentation with recent collectibles, Melia directed the party of four Homs out of the top end of the Bionis' Interior. The cutscene on Mechonis that followed was rife with foreshadowing, introducing the names "Vanea" and "Meyneth" while further implying that a bipedal being was in control of the new Face Nemesis. Most fiction, Homs or otherwise, would never assign humanist traits to the Mechon - they were usually kept as faceless, merciless adversaries with few if any redeeming traits.

Then, a Telethia's distinctive roar echoed around Makna Forest.

Melia sat motionless as the scene unfolded, and remained so for a good few minutes afterward. The idea that she would be fighting a Telethia and have her cadre be wiped out around her was by far the most shocking thing the game had presented, and there was zero possibility whatsoever that this could simply be inspired or coincidental - the voices, mannerisms, and personalities were too perfect for anyone in living memory to have compiled.

There was no question about it now: this was not a work of fiction. Somehow, the game's events outlined what was to happen in the future. And in no uncertain terms, she was to be a major participant.

She shook out of her stupor and gripped the controller harder than ever.

* * *

"She will have a valid reason," Kallian stated.

"I wish I could share your confidence," Sorean replied. "Surely you have also noticed that Melia has been extremely reclusive over the past few weeks. Being late for dinner for the first time in many years can only be a continuation of a developing pattern."

Kallian frowned and looked to the side, twirling a fork in his hand. He couldn't deny any of that.

Yumea had already started eating. "There will be a suitable punishment, of course."

"Mother, Melia is an _adult_. She needs no carrot-and-stick routine to learn timeliness."

Kallian heard someone approaching the dining hall and turned to look, his parents doing the same a moment later.

Melia slowly shambled into the room with face down and arms limp. She could probably get herself to appear normal, but she just didn't have it in her right now.

Sorean was the first to respond. "What is wrong, Melia?"

Melia shuffled into her seat and stared at her food for a moment before looking up, eyes red and many tears streaked down her face. It was difficult to even recall what she had been planning to say for the whole walk.

"Have you ever...discovered a piece of fiction that...resonates so strongly, that mirrors your very soul so deeply, that it feels nothing in the reality you know can compare?"

Sorean took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and slowly nodded. "Yes, my child. I know all too well how a story can capture one's heart and leave a void of longing as it concludes." He started to eat his dinner, all worry completely gone.

Kallian didn't seem convinced that this would excuse being late for dinner, but he wasn't going to complain about Sorean dropping the issue. Yumea scowled but didn't appear to think it was worth trying to push her own opinion.

Melia sadly looked around the table at its other three occupants, knowing that in five years' time they would all be dead. She started eating, trying to finish quickly but not obviously so in order to return to her room as soon as possible. Having just defeated Lorithia, she expected a single major area before fighting Dickson and perhaps Zanza, and so hoped to see the conclusion of the story tonight - and perhaps also her own.

* * *

Alvis appeared somewhat surprised at his visitor, but sounded calm as ever. "Good afternoon, Lady Melia. I presume you have a reason for seeking me out."

"Indeed." Somewhat hastily, Melia let herself into the seer's suite and sat in a chair. The suite was buried deep in the palace, and she'd never been before, but there wasn't much interesting to look at - the furniture was relatively basic and decoration was scarce.

Alvis moved himself into an opposing chair and waited for Melia to continue.

"I am here to talk about the future."

"Of course you would have such desire," Alvis replied. "But as you know, I am limited in what I can envision, and can be only more limited in what I choose to disclose, lest revealing the future change it."

Melia had expected this and moved on to the next planned question. "Then how about the present? How do I access the Telethia laboratory within the tomb?"

The seer blinked once and seemed confused. "What sort of question is this? Even if such a thing existed, I would hardly be one with knowledge of it. Perhaps-"

"Then let us talk about the past. Exactly how many cycles of Zanza's have you allowed to pass before this final one?"

Alvis's face immediately lost all emotion and stared at Melia. "So..._you_ are the one affected by the anomaly."

Melia assumed the "anomaly" was the presence of the prophetic game. "Correct."

"This is..._most_ unfortunate." Alvis spoke in a near monotone. "You believe that your new understanding of the world and what is to come can shape a better future than the one you saw, that you can save your loved ones from dying while also maintaining the defeat of Zanza."

"Yes." Melia thought she heard what she wanted to hear - acknowledgement that she could change the future. However, her continued thoughts were pre-empted.

"You are incorrect. You must forget all that you know of this future, and allow it to pass exactly as has been forseen. To do otherwise will ruin it."

She didn't expect an unconditional "no". Dubiousness yes, but not outright denial. "Perhaps you don't appreciate how much a second person-"

"It is _you_ who do not understand," Alvis interrupted, calm but firm. "Your mind is incapable of comprehending how long I have been directing this world towards the only future that Zanza does not win. Who lives and who dies is immaterial, and thus any proposition you have for your own personal betterment is folly."

"But-"

"This topic of discussion is forever closed." Alvis stood up and directed Melia towards the door. "I am unable to purge the anomaly from you, and it leaves me unable to see how your knowledge of it will change the future, so all I can do is state your choice: Follow the path that I have prepared for you, or be the reason for the destruction of reality as we know it."

Melia was stunned for a moment, but concluded that it was final: Alvis wouldn't be giving her any help. She got up and started to leave.

At the door, she thought of one last question. "If you are leading Shulk to the only future you wish to see, what makes you any better than Zanza?"

Alvis did not answer, standing motionless waiting for her to leave. Eventually she did.

_It looks like I'll be on my own then. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, I'm always on my own._

_I already knew I wouldn't be able to save everyone. Father must die for Shulk to be properly motivated later. But surely I can do better than what Alvis believes._

_So at what point can I begin to act freely without affecting our ability to confront Zanza? My first guess is when Zanza causes the Telethia event, and Egil puts a hole in the Bionis for Junks to access. Brother is still alive, if mutated, at that point...there must be something that can be done for him..._

The game dated itself by giving Sorean as emperor for "twenty years", so she knew she had about five years to prepare. She was likely going to be limited by being assigned imperial dutues within the next year, but she had a few resources: generational ether talent, a device that allowed her to travel through the vents of Alcamoth as if they were teleporters, her personal airship the _Illustrious Alighting_, and of course the game itself.

She began to make plans.


	2. Initialization

While the royal family often had dinner together, it was less common to share lunch, owing to varied schedules. As a result, while it was quite rare for Melia to ask her father a question that she didn't want anyone else to hear, lunch was an optimal time if she needed to.

"I have a request, Father."

"By all means."

"I am beginning to feel suspicions when I am about in public that I am not the generic citizen I am supposed to be passing as. I believe my increased place in the public eye, caused by my sitting in on imperial business, has made it more difficult for me to remain anonymous." She paused for comment.

Sorean gave a small nod. "I cannot say I have seen this myself, but I understand your viewpoint. What do you propose?"

"I have two ideas, one of which I expect would be more freely given than the other, though of course both together would be even more effective. The first is acting lessons, to better teach me to conceal my true nature."

"And the second?"

Melia hesitated for a moment - it would be all too easy to phrase it wrong and lose the opportunity. "The second would be possession of a Truth Cloak gem, to disguise my most evident features from the public."

Sorean's brow furrowed. "You must understand, Melia, that part of the purpose of your public excursions is to be yourself amongst the people. To take on another's identity would do no good in that respect."

"I would not expect to do so for every excursion, but to merely reduce the frequency that my true face is shown to the public."

"I see." Sorean sat back and rubbed his chin.

Melia tried to guess what her father was thinking. She'd lied of course - the acting lessons were to make it easier to mirror her speech and actions seen in the game despite knowing future truths, and the Truth Cloak gem was primarily to sneak into the Ministry of Research and spy on Lorithia's activities enough to discover how to access the Telethia laboratory, with other covert operations possible. But hopefully the cover story was reasonably sound.

After a few moments, Sorean answered. "You shall have my answer later today."

"Thank you, Father." She'd done what she could do, and could only hope for the best now.

"Later today" turned out to be about three hours later, when Sorean summoned Melia to a small meeting room.

"I have considered your lunchtime requests, and I have decided that they are sufficiently reasonable."

He brought his hands out from behind his back, one holding a paper and the other holding a small wooden box. It was apparent from the letterhead on the paper what it was: an application to acting lessons. But the strong fiery energy emenating from the box was much more demanding a focus. Its lid was engraved with illegible ancient lettering, but it was evident from its aura that it contained a very strong fire gem.

Melia deduced that both requests had been granted, which was a pleasant surprise. She reached out to take the application so she could sign it. "Thank you, Father. I shall use these grants to better myself in the name of the empire."

Sorean smiled instead of responding. Once Melia finished with the application, he held out the box for her to take.

She opened it quickly but carefully, revealing the fire gem inside. It was clearly rank VII; the sparkle and ether it projected were unmistakable.

"This is known as the Visitor's Gem," Sorean said. "It is the only known Truth Cloak gem of rank VII. It has been used since time immemorial for emperors and empresses to wander incognito amongst Homs colonies when it comes time to search for a Second Consort."

Melia continued to stare at the gem, further awestruck now knowing that it was one-of-a-kind.

Sorean continued. "I am perhaps overstepping my bounds by allowing someone who does not hold the throne to borrow this unique artefact. But I believe there is no reason to worry. I have full trust that you will use it responsibly and return it intact."

She hadn't really asked for this. Given her high ether affinity, a Truth Cloak gem of rank III would have been sufficient for her to disguise her hairstyle and wing size, which in theory was all she should need to become unrecognizable; the only reason she'd asked for one rather than fetching one herself was that the gem type was tightly controlled by the government, and wanted the request to come from the top. A rank VII gem would...she didn't even know how much she could do.

"I...cannot thank you enough, Father. This is...far beyond my expectations."

After returning to her chambers, Melia posted herself in front of a mirror and started experimenting. It quickly became clear that the rank VII Truth Cloak gem in her hands was powerful beyond her expectations. She could change the colour and style of her clothes, make her wings and ears appear pure-blooded, draw a huge scar across her face, wrap her entire body in floor-length hair - she even tried disguising herself as Lorithia, and it felt incredibly unnerving to see the minister's reflection staring out at her.

"...well isn't that something." A combination of Lorithia's voice and Melia's pronunciations came out. It was very jarring.

It would be foolish to actually impersonate anyone in particular, since if she was caught the only person who would understand how she did it would be the one that gave her the means to do so. But she now had the freedom to be significantly more creative when it came to choice of disguise.

_I wonder how far I can take this._ She attempted ever more extreme manipulations of her appearance. Being a Homs was easy, it was almost effortless to hide her wings and change her hair colour. It took a moment or two to envision herself as a Machina, but it appeared close enough that she might be able to gather resources from the Fallen Arm without arousing suspicion if glanced at long range, and of course practice would only improve its realism. It took a bit more effort to create a Nopon shell, and a further five minutes to learn how to make it move convincingly, but that it worked at all would be further help if she wanted to remain innocuous anywhere on the Bionis. Finally, she tried becoming completely invisible - and after several mintues of mental exertion, her reflection vanished entirely. It took too much effort to be practical for most situations, but it would be an invaluable ability.

She wondered what other unique treasures with legendary powers that only the emperor was allowed to possess - surely this was not the only one. But she felt very lucky to get even this one; trying to angle any more would likely be futile.

_This will make things a lot easier._

* * *

Melia glanced around nervously. Colony 6 was busier than normal today, so the odds of running into someone at the ether furnace and being forced to interact were higher. But she couldn't just leave and come back later; she had a schedule to adhere to.

She reached the ether furnace and started unloading her two handbags and backpack full of ether crystals and cylinders, sourced from many Bionis deposits and Mechonis gears. The furnace in Colony 9 always seemed to be attended to by the Gem Man, but this one in Colony 6 was usually free, so she could craft alone (which was trickier than crafting in a pair with someone else, but doable). It was better than trying to do so in Alcamoth, where access to an ether furnace was generally monopolized by the experts and certified apprentices of the art, and she didn't have the time to work herself through the waiting lists.

Crafting went smoothly today. Her main goal was simply to build experience so she could help make better gems once she joined Shulk and the party, with anything useful produced via practice as a bonus. Currently, she was making mostly rank III gems with the occasional IV, with a fair bit of inevitable mistakes along the way.

After using the first half of her supplies, Melia sensed someone was approaching, and took a glance.

It was Sharla and Juju. A few years younger than the people she "knew", but quite obviously them.

Melia panicked enough to ruin the current gem, sending up a strong flame that caused the furnace's contents to completely evaporate.

Juju appeared to notice that the person at the furnace messed up, and decided to point and laugh while looking up at Sharla.

Sharla angrily tapped him on the head. "Don't be rude to strangers, Juju." She turned her attention to Melia as she arrived to the furnace. "Looks like you have quite a load there. Mind if I squeeze in for one?"

Melia attempted to smile while nodding and backed off. Her Homs disguise might be visually perfect - she'd borrowed the look from an unimportant young woman in Colony 9 - but she wasn't sure of getting the local accent right and so hoped to not have to speak.

"Thanks." Sharla tipped the two cylinders she was carrying into the furnace and started work. "I haven't seen someone do that much crafting at once in a while, especially not on their own. You doing busywork for someone or what?"

Melia considered faking a sore throat to get out of saying a word, but knew Sharla would jump at trying to soothe or heal it. "It's...just for my own curiosity and experience."

Sharla carefully controlled the furnace's flames, but had no trouble making small talk at the same time. "Really? You seem pretty well-loaded to just be messing around. Actually now that I look at it, _wow_ I don't think I've ever seen one person carry that many cylinders at once. There's no way anyone with that haul could take a step outside the colony without getting covered in monsters. Have we met? I'm Sharla and that's my brother Juju, what's your name?"

"I am Paula." She did have a fake identity prepared, though she'd hoped to not have to use it.

"Paula..." Sharla's brow furrowed. "...have I heard of you? Paula Brachenrich, the ether experimenter from Colony 9?"

"Indeed." Melia had taken the name from the recent obituaries of Colony 9's newspaper, so even if the two colonies wished to communicate random civilian deaths to each other, the news was unlikely to have arrived yet.

"Yeah I thought so. Only someone really into studying ether would be doing this much crafting for themselves." Finished, Sharla removed her new gems from the furnace and packed up. "I'd like to stay and chat but I'm in a bit of a time crunch. But you're sure you'll be okay? Going back to Colony 9 with all that?"

"I got here alright."

"True. Well, maybe see you later then."

Sharla turned away and directed Juju to follow, who seemed bored with sitting aside the conversation and was more than happy to oblige.

Melia released a huge sigh of relief and got back to her crafting practice. _That was harrowing, and now I have extra difficulty for planning my next return here. Do I keep the same character and possibly necessitate additional backstory, or create a new one that will end up having oddly similar behaviour? Should I return at night to avoid random citizenry, but risk suspicious military patrols? Ugh._

* * *

Exhausted, Melia sat back in the Illustrious Alighting's pilot seat and started downing a carton of orange juice. Strength Up and Muscle Up gems could only do so much; she was still a small and frail individual not suited to carrying around loads of Andos armour.

Faras Cave was starting to look pretty crowded. Drone parts, ether pods, animal pelts, Mechon wreckage, and more were filling up the hidden cave. It was at least an order of magnitude larger than the amount of materials the game claimed were necessary to rebuild Colony 6 and fulfill some of the more challenging sidequests, but she'd applied a "realism multiplier" to her calculations - the was no way that only two Igna and two local turtles would provide enough materials to restart a commercial district from scratch.

It was surprisingly easy to find the perfect hidden base. Faras Cave was remarkable in its unremarkability; the small patch of land in the watery cavern was home to nothing but grass and a few bushes. A monitoring beacon she'd set up long ago told her that the only substantial creatures to enter the cave in the past year were a colony of turtles laying eggs on the shore, and with the area's complete lack of natural resources or tourist attractiveness, she had zero fear of anyone or anything stumbling upon what she was gathering.

Somewhat refreshed, Melia turned to her notebook and decided what she would be fetching next. It had been a long and arduous process so far - disguising as a wide variety of people and races in order to trade for resources amongst the Homs colonies, various Nopon around the Bionis, Alcamoth, and even the Machina. But it was also quite satisfying to see her progress stack up, knowing that every item had a definite purpose in the future. She couldn't build a stock of perishable items such as fruit and insects, but that was fine - it would help sell the idea that she didn't have absolutely everything planned out.

The hard part would be when it case time to use her loot. She planned to reveal her personal ship to the others after returning to Makna Forest after setting out from Alcamoth - she would pretend to be a reluctant novice pilot, allowing them to quickly travel backwards while not unnaturally speeding their advance forwards, just as skip travel was presented in the game. But that wouldn't explain why she had such tailor-made stores of items stacked in a secret cave. The current thinking was that she could set up a series of holoprojectors inside the cave, hiding most of the treasure while only revealing the ones soon to be relevant, and claiming to the others that she was organizing deliveries of useful materials to the secret area.

_Perhaps a Glacier Element._ Melia couldn't guess which of the Replica Monados that Shulk would prefer, so she had to prepare for all of them. In theory it wouldn't be any more risky to store a nebula element in the cave than it was to keep any other ether-rich material.

Making a mark in her notes, she set out again.

* * *

Kallian sliced off a bit too much butter. "Melia, I'm _worried_ about you," he continued with exasperation.

"What for?" Melia countered. "Is it not prudent for me to apply myself to the best of my ability?"

"That is hardly the point." He took a bite of his lunch. "On one hand, there is applying oneself to be the best they can be. But on the other is fanatical devotion to an aspect of their life that is ultimately peripheral."

"I hardly think that training my self-defense is peripheral. You saw how many of my skills I had to tap into in order to escape being kidnapped by the mafia."

"Your instructor refuses to train you any further. Do you not think that is a red flag?"

Melia scowled. "If I were told there would be an artificial limit on how strong I was allowed to become, I would not have been as interested in attaining it."

"What do you think Father will say when he learns that your ether lessons have come to an unnatural conclusion?"

"I would hope he would be proud that I have reached a combat level of 50 in such a short time."

Kallian shook his head and sighed. "Your opinions and hopes are yours. But please, at least stop travelling Eryth Sea _looking_ for trouble. Surely you can't think you've been keeping that a secret. There is absolutely no need to risk yourself simply to push the envelope."

Melia decided not to respond. She could say yes, but that would only be to the letter of the request rather than its spirit, as she would simply go train in Sword Valley or similar. She could of course stop - it wasn't hard to pretend she was lower-levelled, and she didn't _really_ need that much practice. But on the other hand, she had to at least keep sharp, and she already had a fairly complete plan of attack for training against various kinds of foes, which there was little sense in letting go to waste.

"Melia, I don't need to interrogate you to know something is not right, and I shouldn't need to do so in order to learn what. So tell me. Not as an interested prince, but as a concerned brother. What has driven you to strengthen yourself far past expectations in the last few years?"

"If there were a reason you deemed problematic, and I told you, would you tell Father?"

Kallian frowned and thought about it for a moment. "I would be forced to weigh your desire for privacy against our desire to keep you safe."

Melia turned her face down towards her own lunch. "If I cannot have that assurance, then nothing shall be said." She wasn't seriously considering saying a word in any case, it was just a convenient scapegoat. Kallian had to remain as blind to the future as everyone else.

"Then so be it." Finished eating, Kallian stood up. "I cannot ask Father to limit your privileges on nothing but suspicion and heresay. But if we discover the slightest shred of evidence that you are intentionally putting yourself in danger, we shall be forced to take action." Without further word, he left the dining hall.

_I'm not scared of your threats of punishment. All it will do is make me more vigilant in disguising my operations. This is too important to fail._

* * *

_"An army of Homs is passing through Valak Mountain."_

The report repeated itself in Melia's mind dozens of times as she approached Sword Valley. It wasn't far off from when she expected it to happen, so this had to be it - this was to be the Battle of Sword Valley, where Dunban would defeat the Mechon.

She engaged the Illustrious Alighting's cloaking device as individual Fortress units came into view. Technically it was the stealth parking feature, but she'd added enough of her crafted gems to its matrix that it was no longer limited to covering itself with holographic rocks or logs - it could disguise itself as the sky around it, making it effectively invisible.

As predicted, she saw Dunban rushing through the retreating Homs army, taking down Mechon all around him. After a short while, Dickson and Mumkhar joined him.

Melia's finger twitched. One press of the inactive trigger underneath it would fire her craft's weapons and vapourize the two traitors. Shulk and the others wouldn't have to suffer. Egil's and Zanza's forces would be crippled without their top men. Father and Brother would live.

_No. There's no telling how things would change, and all my plans are based around it. If nothing else, Mumkhar must cause Shulk to begin his quest, and Dickson must guide him through Satorl Marsh. Things must stay the way they will be._

It was surreal to see the battle unfold from above after watching it from cinematic angles so many times. Eventually, Dunban made his final charge, and an explosion of energy wiped out most of the remaining Mechon.

Melia pulled up and started returning to Alcamoth. She had one year remaining to complete her preparations - potentially less, since it wasn't unlikely to say that only ten months was "a year ago". It was the home stretch now.

* * *

"Begin log: Composition Twenty-Six."

The computer beeped as it created the dictated logfile and began recording.

"C-26 contains a more refined resonance between the earth and dark ether ratios than C-25," Melia continued. "The goal is to fix the issue where the reverted form would not coalesce into solid matter. The ratios of all other ethers have been scaled to match." Pause. "Deploy specimen."

One of the pods in the Telethia laboratory opened, releasing a fully-grown bipedal Telethia. It looked around in confusion for a moment before discovering Melia and deciding to go after her.

Melia pulled the first pin out of the glass globe she was holding. Ten centimetres in diameter, its slushy contents started to glow green as the various ethers within began to mix.

The Telethia reacted to the new ether mix, pausing its approach for just a moment trying to figure out what it was.

Melia threw the globe at the Telethia. It followed it through the air and caught it in its mouth, trying to eat it.

She then pulled the string connected to the second pin, opening the inner container to mix with the outer ether.

A large explosion of fluid energy enveloped the Telethia, first an etheral green but quickly changing to a bright and sickly magenta. The energy broiled and bubbled, slowly shrinking in size.

After about a minute, the ether started to fade, leaving behind an unconscious pure-blooded High Entia infant.

Melia couldn't stop a huge smile from breaking out over her face.

"Result: C-26 is a success. Specimen Telethia has transformed into a seemingly healthy High Entia infant. Once it is delivered to the orphanage, its mental state can be confirmed. Next step: investigate more scaleable methods than a two-pin hand grenade, perhaps deployment via automated airstrike. If there is enough time, test what happens if reversion is initiated during an active transformation."

She began to clean up all evidence of her presence in the laboratory, transferring all files to her thumbdrive and using royal clearance to delete all the night's logs.

_Lorithia won't know what hit her "pets"._

* * *

_Today is the day._

Melia mounfully gazed out the window at the clear sky. As told yesterday, in a few short hours, she was to be dispatched to Makna Forest to fight the Telethia there.

She was as ready as she could ever be. She'd watched and re-watched the cutscenes of upcoming events dozens of times to nail her part. She'd filled her expanded travel pouch with useful but not suspiciously strong gems, as well as enough personal supplies as she could squeeze in - toothbrush and toothpaste, nail file, sleeping bag, and so on. She'd gone over as much dialogue as she could cram into her schedule while still getting enough sleep, wanting to be prepared for any order of events.

This was the primary issue she expected to run into - the game could be played in any order aside from the main plot, so she didn't know exactly how everything would play out between the major events. And between the minor events she knew of, there would be mealtimes and other trivial incidents too unimportant to be presented. It would be a veritable minefield of keeping track of what had and hadn't happened yet.

There was a knock on the door. Melia quizzically turned towards it. _It is far too soon to depart. What could this be about?_

"You may enter."

Alvis walked into the room. "Good morning, your highness."

Melia wasn't sure why Alvis would be visiting her in her chambers, but she had her suspicions, and wasted no time in laying them out. "I assume you are here to remind me not to change the future."

The seer's expression was unchanging and unreadable. "That was indeed one of the things I was going to say. And in effect, it obviates the need for me to state the second - I do not need to inform you of my vision that tells you to look out for Shulk."

"Of course." Melia nodded slowly.

Alvis looked over at the desk, stacked high with papers, the game console itself hidden from his view. "I already know you are planning something. Something that you believe is inconsequential. May I remind you that nothing is inconsequential. All is connected, and the tiniest alteration can have the most critical of impacts."

Melia didn't bother to hide an irritated scowl. "I have been _rehearsing_ for the past several years in order to avoid changing things that should not be changed. I have no interest in making it more difficult or less predictable for Shulk and the others."

Alvis turned to Melia and stared at her for a few seconds, persumably trying to decide if he believed her.

"You are no fool," he eventually said. Then he left.

Melia interpreted the sentence to mean "very well, don't disappoint me". She had no intention of doing so.


	3. Execution

"You were lucky this time, Dunban! But next time I'll slice you in two!"

Metal Face took off from the Prison Island terrace, the other Mechon also following after Face Nemesis.

"Fiora! It's me - Shulk! _Fiora!_"

Melia heard the events as if from a great distance. It was one thing to watch an artificial image of herself holding an artificial image of her dying father, but to actually be in the position was quite another. There was very little need to fake any emotion.

"We were too late again." With the others also approaching, Shulk started verbally beating imself up. "I saw it. I knew it would happen."

"Shulk..." Sharla began.

"Why?" Reyn cut in almost at the same time. "Why did this have to happen?"

It was time for Melia to act - in both senses of the word. "Father..."

"Melia, the hope of our people, you must not cry."

"Don't say that! I don't care how improper it is. Let me cry."

"Melia..."

"W-Why does it have to be me, if all it takes is to be half Homs?" _Oh no._ A slight stutter, caused by already knowing the answer to the question. _Even the tiniest deviation might misdirect the conversation._

"Is that what you think? You are very much mistaken."

_Good, nothing changed._ "But..."

"To become the hope of the High Entia is a fate that you choose for yourself. As long as you remember this, it is certain that you will be worthy of that name. But remember this also. It is not because you are the hope of the High Entia that I love you. It is because I love you that I wish for you to become that hope."

She'd heard it all before many times. But hearing it in reality as opposed to the game was something else.

Sorean turned to Shulk. "Heir to the Monado... I leave the sword in your hands. The sword that my forefathers sealed away. With it, you can succeed."

"Your Majesty." Shulk looked like he didn't really know how to respond.

Sorean looked back up. "Melia..."

Melia leaned as close as could be seen reasonable and whispered into his ear. "I know what is to come. I will save our people from extinction."

It was technically wrong, indisputably not what was supposed to happen. But she had to do it, to give her father some form of closure over the apocalypse he knew was coming. And if the future was going to change by telling a dying person a secret, that wasn't really the sort of mad world she'd want to live in anyway.

Sorean's open mouth trembled for a moment before he grabbed Melia's hand and squeezed it with as much force as he could muster for the last few seconds of his life.

After a few moments, Shulk continued as expected. "Melia, come with me."

"Shulk...I..."

"You'll have plenty of time to think about your empire and your people's hopes. If you need me, I will be at your side. But you are an individual. You are Melia Antiqua. And you can't let them get away with this!"

"You're right. My foremost concern...is making them pay." _Drat, another incorrect pause. That's the end of what was presented though, it shouldn't matter much._

There would be silence if not for the rain.

Reyn slowly edged his way up to Melia, chin down. "Hey. Do you...d'you mind if I carry him back? Or do we oughta let someone who's supposed to do it?"

Melia usually felt conflicted for the first few minutes after the script left off, but in this case it flowed naturally. "When the emperor falls in battle, it is tradition for the most senior surviving and able general to return him home. Under the circumstances, I can think of no more appropriate person."

"Uh..." Reyn glanced over at Dunban as if he expected to be overruled as "senior", but he was looking out towards where the Mechon had left, and probably wan't all that "able" to carry someone else regardless. "Right then."

The party gathered themselves and began to leave Prison Island.

At the bottom of the first staircase, Shulk turned to Melia, clearly trying to start a conversation to take their minds off things. "You know, Melia, something's been bugging me. How are you so good at figuring things out quickly?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, I guess you live around here so you have an idea what the local animals are like, but you guessed all Metal Face's attack patterns even though you'd never seen him before, you didn't have any trouble figuring him out. And it's not just that. How do you know stuff like what kind of crystals to find in deposits? How do you already know who is looking for help and who isn't? And how do you always have so many good gems?"

Melia tried to chuckle while shaking her head; it went mostly okay. "I am well-educated and well-connected. There are a great many resources I have access to that few others would." _And a healthy dose of unnatural research, of course._

Before the group could enter the first teleporter, Alvis came out of it.

"Alvis?" Melia didn't recall anything about Alvis coming to Prison Island. "What are you doing here?"

Alvis seemed calm and half-bowed. "Your Majesty. His Highness Kallian received a report that a strange new weapon had been launched at Prison Island, and has asked me to investigate."

_...oh yes, there is the minor scene in which he speaks to Zanza as the giant's remains._ "I see, very well." She allowed him to pass.

Sharla seemed confused. "Why him? Don't you have scientists for that kind of stuff?"

"Maybe he wants to poke it to try and get a vision?" Shulk suggested. "I mean, I get visions when we meet people or pick stuff up all the time, so maybe Kallian wants to see if this weapon's important enough to give Alvis one."

Melia turned back to look at the top of Prison Island, knowing that they would return before too long. _My hardest part is over with, and the first act is complete with only minor deviations. I cannot fully relax, but it is almost time to fade into the background for most of act two._

* * *

"CURSE YOU, DUNBAN!"

Mumkhar was running out of things to say. He'd run through a large stream of profanities by now and was starting to scrape the barrel of angry shouts. Given how far below Sword Valley he'd fallen by now, this was not a surprise. He didn't know or care whether anyone could hear him - he just wanted to yell.

He found something else to shout, but was interrupted by spotting something speeding towards him from above. Most of the fragments from the structural collapse had already passed by, so it was noticably unusual. As it approached, it turned out to be the shell of a small helipod Mechon, painted the same colours as Metal Face with a few weird-looking extra bits welded on.

"Get away from me, you bug!" Mumkhar waved his arms at the drone, which the armless Metal Face copied in vain.

The Mechon landed on Metal Face's chassis and stuck like a magnet, as close to Mumkhar's head as it could get. The extra bits were now resolvable as sound equipment: a microphone and a megaphone. A few seconds later, a voice came out.

"Hello, Mister Reorma."

"_You,_" Mumkhar spat, his throat painfully sore from all the yelling. "You stuck-up princessy-"

"Since you already know who I am," Melia's voice continued, "I will get to the point. I am here to taunt you before you die."

"GET OUT!" Mumkhar wiggled around some more but it was no use; the helipod Mechon wasn't moving and anything of his that wasn't pinned was unresponsive.

"Before we begin, I shall inform you that this is a prerecorded message, and thus no taunting or mocking on your part will have any effect. In addition, if you interrupt me, the recording will repeat the previous five seconds to ensure you do not miss anything."

"_SHUT UP!_" Mumkhar coughed; it hurt to yell now.

True to its word, the recording waited for him to go silent and repeated the previous five seconds before continuing.

"Let us start with the obvious." Sound of page turning. "You are an utterly despicable person. In fact, to call you a "person" at the present time would be generous, as such would imply you have a shred of humanity worth acknowledging. Rather, you are a concentrated vessel of loathing and hate, nothing more than a jar of negative emotions filled to the brim with jealousy and selfishness. Indeed, were you of Alcamoth, your obituary would not be published, as there are no redeeming features of your life to highlight aside from the fact it has concluded. You would be unceremoniously thrown into the sea with all your possessions returned to the state, if they were worth anything."

"As it happens, similar is currently occurring. However, you will not fall into the ocean for a quick drowning. Instead, you are projected to land on the Fallen Arm. I assume that the interior of Metal Face is equipped with inertial dampeners to allow you to survive the sudden changes in acceleration I've seen you perform in flight, so you will not die on impact. You will then lay in the wreckage for several days, presumably with birds and insects pecking at you, before you eventually expire from thirst. It will be long, arduous, and hopefully _very_ painful. Only a fraction of what you deserve, perhaps, but nothing's perfect."

"Now that the future has been established, let us talk of the past." Another page turned. "According to my research, you originally hail from Colony 7, destroyed fourteen years ago. I'm sure you remember that day? The Mechon were quite effective at ravaging the colony, and only forty-seven Homs were rescued by a mysterious group of benefactors. You were livid at being denied permission to join the group who decided to split off from retreating to the other colonies and search for the Monado, weren't you? You wanted to find the weapon and avenge your parents all by your underaged self, didn't you? Part of me wishes that you tried, that you fought your uncle's wishes harder and ran off on the chase. But no, you had not yet become who you are, so for you to fruitlessly die in Ose Tower with all the rest would have been undeserved."

"Then, before you had even fully settled into Colony 9, Dickson returned with the Monado. It is as if everyone who lived within a block of you over the years had some tale to tell of you trying to ingratiate, swindle, or connive your way into taking it for yourself. You weedled your way into a friendship with Dickson and Dunban, simply to be closer to the legendary sword. Even as it became more and more clear that it would not allow any but Dunban to wield it, you focused your every effort to put yourself no further than second in line. And for what? For glory? For revenge? For acceptance amongst those who distrusted you from the beginning? Clearly not. No, it is evident that whatever reason you may had had to begin with, as you progressed through life with nothing but your obsession with the Monado, has been lost. Now, you simply wanted the Monado for its own sake, for to acknowledge you had no plan otherwise would be to admit your life is a right waste. You never truly wanted to replace Dunban as the "hero" - that was simply what you told yourself to rationalize why you wanted him dead."

"And here lies the rub. You were driven by vengence, by a hatred for the Mechon that displaced you and killed your family. Yet in the end, you joined them without hint of regret. And for what? Did you think the Monado would be more accepting of your hand now that you've become one of its sworn enemies? Surely you did not believe that Egil would reward you for bringing it to him. It is true that Egil covets the Monado, but merely so he can destroy it. Were that to be done, the Faces such as you immediately become unnecessary - and you specifically have been quite a bit of trouble to keep around, haven't you? Such as your journeying out to Valak Mountain against orders to tail Face Nemesis? Egil has already decided you are a liability, and has no delusion you would be of any use if Shulk defeats you once more, which he just has. And in fact, he has already been planning memory-erasing procedures on all current and future Faces specifically due to your actions. Now wouldn't that have been ironic, for you to hold the Monado in victory for mere hours before forgetting that it ever existed?"

"Perhaps what actually happened was even better, for you to only hold it for a few minutes before it being taken once more, and be immediately routed by Dunban with minimal effort on our part. Dunban has not fought at full strength since the Battle of Sword Valley, and he may never truly do so again. And you possess a Mechon body that heightens your physical prowess beyond any Homs. So how come, amongst your posturing, taunting, and claims of utmost superiority, you still lost handily?"

There was a thump and clatter. Mumkhar hadn't been paying attention to the outside, but he now looked to see he had landed on some piece of ground.

"Accelerometers have sensed landing," Melia's prerecorded message skipped to. "I suppose I should stop here in case anyone comes to investigate, and so this is where it ends. Have fun in the hells of nadir for all eternity."

The helipod Mechon broke apart, its pieces scattering across and becoming indistinguishable with the black wreckage.

Mumkhar coughed. He was already parched and thirsty.

* * *

Will all lights off and engines at minimum, Melia slowly but silently manoeuvred the Illustrious Alighting into the hangar. Sure the cloaking device was active, but she wasn't taking any chances, and it didn't protect against noise anyway.

The hangar was pitch-black in the midnight, the only light coming from the stars through the closing bay doors. Once the doors were shut, not even the strongest Night Vision gems would be of any use. Normally there would be a skeleton crew of guards and other security about, but she had successfully influenced Kallian to believe that they were better off training with the rest of the night shift regiments, so all hands would be at optimal efficiency for the upcoming attack on Mechonis.

Melia parked in her vessel's designated space and began unloading her cargo: dozens of barrels of her C-26 anti-ether substance. She didn't need light to see; her ethersense was just as good in navigating the hangar full of ether-rich craft. The hard part was the physical labour of moving the barrels of fluid around without noise or tripping over unobtrusive cables sitting on the floor.

The plan, as tested several times back in the Telethia laboratory, was relatively simple. Over the course of a few nights, she was setting a barrel of C-26 behind the reactor cores of every Havres, securely attaching them with copious amounts of duct tape. In the event that a nosy engineer discovered one, they were labelled as "Important - Do Not Touch, Question At Own Risk" with Lorithia's forged signature. Underneath each barrel she had attached a spring-loaded piercing device that would trigger the composition's reaction by her activating a makeshift detonator carried in her travel pouch. The moment Lorithia initiated the Telethia event, she would press the button and ideally make a clever quip, followed by the anti-ether reaction producing enough disruption to the initial transformation process that it was unlikely to reach the critical mass of ether necessary to proceed.

If that wasn't enough, the contingency plan was to load a massive drum of C-26 aboard the Illustrious Alighting, as big as she could fit on the deck. She would then program it to dump the keg on Kallian's Havres and pierce it with its lance when summoned. This would only save a single vessel and she only had one shot, but it would be better than nothing. In the worst-case scenario, where the entire Telethia event proceeded unaltered, she still had a high chance of later attacking the Lorithia-Kallian hybrid with the composition.

From there, she could only guess what direction the future would take, but it was unfathomably hard to believe that it could be any worse than what the game presented. Colony 6 had sufficient resources to produce the anti-ether composition in large amounts, so they had a fair shot at liberating much of Alcamoth's transformed population, and it was a reasonable assumption that Zanza wouldn't be aware it was going on unless he came out to check. It was also not outside the realm of possibility that, with more than just her researching it, an anti-mutagenic gun-like weapon could be developed. Without being fused to Kallian's Telethia body, Lorithia would be easy prey, and while Dickson would still be quite troublesome her foreknowledge of his abilities would be a massive advantage. From there, Zanza himself would be no harder a foe.

The main issue would be how to explain what she'd done to the others. Telethia being transformed High Entia was supposed to be a secret known to the emperor alone, and since it wasn't revealed to her in the private section of her father's will, it had to be hidden somewhere within the ancient texts of the Tomb. And while some might believe a claim that she'd cracked the ancient script already, Kallian would have none of it, knowing she hadn't even tried yet. The only real avenue to explain how she'd developed a substance to revert a transformation years in advance of its first reveal was to admit foreknowledge. Perhaps she could wait for Alvis to join Dickson and then claim he'd told her without fear of contradiction, but Kallian probably wouldn't buy that either, as they were both quite aware that the seer wasn't really supposed to reveal visions to anyone but the emperor. Then again, Kallian might end up not particularly interested in the "how", but rather take it at face value and fight in the present until all the dust had settled. From there it seemed likely he would accept, or at least tolerate, the ends justifying the means.

Her current state of mind was that the best course of action was to stall until they had finished fighting off the Telethia attack on Colony 6, and then tell the party and Kallian (and make it very clear it was to be _only_ them) that she had come upon a strange item several years ago that made unusually specific predictions about her life that started to be proven true - thus spurring her to act on the rest so they might not become reality. It was a fairly truthful angle, and as long as she could get them to not probe too deeply, it seemed like it would hold until after Zanza's defeat. Ideally, she wouldn't need to elaborate further and reveal that the source of the information was their quest in the form of a video game - it seemed like that would get very awkward, especially given that Homs and Nopon might not understand the concept.

It was arduous work, and took an hour or two, but Melia eventually completed the night's batch of sabotage. It was time to board her ship once more and jet back down to Colony 9, to sneak back into Dunban's house where the rest of the party was sleeping. As the lightest sleeper in the group, it was pretty easy to avoid detection by the others. The only real risk was if Fiora was sleepless and tried to interact with what would turn out to be a strategic arrangement of rolled-up blankets, but as Hypnotise was extremely effective and long-lasting on people who wanted to be asleep, it was of little concern. If only it were possible to use the art on herself, she wouldn't have to invent as many nightmares to explain her tiredness.

Of course, Melia was acutely aware that everything had gone very well so far, all things considered. As a result, she was starting to feel extra-anxious about whatever would inevitably go wrong. Continuously looking back over her research notes did well at belaying any fear that the anti-ether composition would fail to work as expected, so she was mostly concerned about someone discovering her sabotage before the fleet deployed for Mechonis. There was zero chance of it being traced back to her, but it would be very disappointing to have to resort to the contingency plan via early discovery rather than deployment failure.

* * *

"I don't know much about any curse." Shulk extended his hand towards Egil. "For now, all I can do is this, Egil. We can live in peace again."

Melia stoically looked ahead towards the defeated Yaldabaoth. She didn't bother pretending to look pleased like the others; no one could see her face because they were all looking at Shulk and Egil, so it wasn't worth the effort. Re-watching the cutscenes a few times last night could only do so much to prepare her mental state for the imminent overturning of the world.

Thinking about how her plans were about to manifest led her to once again consider the lives she had chosen not to save. She had been right about Father; there was no way the allied force would have been gathered as quickly as it had were Kallian not in the position of Melia's regent. There was no reasonable avenue to aid Gadolt without risking her ship in the Agniratha explosion, and even then it would be pretty obvious that she had interfered. Egil had to remain within the wreck of Yaldabaoth so the Mechonis could contest the Bionis long enough for the party to escape. It was likely impossible for her to protect Meyneth from Zanza's power.

"Again?" Egil answered. "I see. Yes, you're right." He started to get up.

Melia braced herself for the ear-splitting gunshot that was to come.

The world cut to black.


	4. Override

Melia found herself in the astral void.

_...what? I'm not supposed to be here, Shulk is. What happened?_

She didn't remember anything out of the ordinary. The last thing that she knew was preparing for Shulk to be shot.

"You failed."

Melia turned to see Alvis, expressionless.

"It is just as I warned you," he continued. "You believed the changes you were making to the prepared timeline were irrelevant, that they were of too little import to affect the final result. And now you are proven to be wrong."

He waved his hand, causing the scene in Mechonis Core to become visible as if viewed from afar. Shulk had indeed been shot; Dickson was in the midst of his gloating. But instead of Melia being ready to take a swipe at him, her body was motionless in a gory pool. Dickson clearly knew where to shoot for an instant kill, and had done so with a purposely messy round.

"The other members of Zanza's Trinity became suspicious that things were progressing too smoothly," Alvis went on. "That Shulk and his friends, while challenged by the Mechon opposing them, seemed to possess an unnatural degree of preparation. Foes immune to certain attacks never had such arts used on them. Quests were completed before they even began. All members of the party always had exactly the right weapons and gems for the upcoming trials. Something was amiss. In the end, they realized that only one of his friends had the means to make such preparations. And it appears to have been decided that you were too dangerous to leave alive."

Melia was only kind of paying attention to Alvis; she was much more focused on the scene below. The out-of-body experience was much more fascinating in reality than watching through a screen.

She watched as Zanza began to appear. The motions of the ether surrounding him were engrossing - she could almost feel it coming from two directions at once, as if she could sense it from both her astral position in the void and from her material position on the floor. It was like...she could see a pattern in how the ether flowed between the world and the void.

Melia suddenly became aware of the ether in the void. It was very strangely interwoven, an all-encompassing field of many odd perturbations that seemed to link worldly objects of no sensible relationship. But as she watched the ether in the real world, she saw the ether in the void move as well, and the link between the two slowly became apparent.

Alvis was saying something else now, but Melia completely ignored it. She could see Zanza's wings fluttering as pulses through the void ether, as if she was staring into the inner workings of his body. Something else flashed over there and she instinctively knew it was Fiora thinking about raising her arm. Over in that direction was a regular pulse that looked to represent Egil's heartbeat. Every pattern recognized led to another, and before long she could almost see a copy of reality in the void, overlaid with a shimmering flow of ether.

_...whoa._

Melia lifted a finger and tapped one of the nearby ether particles. It flipped from a high-activity state to a low-activity one.

Suddenly she was male. Clothing, physique, anatomy, everything had changed in an instant.

The change was quickly undone. _Let's not do that again._

Alvis frowned. "Do you truly care so little for what I-"

Melia looked over to a cluster of ether next to Alvis and mentally twiddled its contents with a waggle of her fingers. Alvis's hair changed to red.

"...Very well." He undid the change with no motion of his own and turned away. "If you do not intend to listen to me, I will leave you alone for the rest of this world's lifespan. Needless to say, it will be short."

Melia looked down at the world below, across the never-before-seen patterns in the ether everywhere and their connections to the strange constructions in the void, as if the cover of reality had been peeled off to reveal the underlying substructure and mechanisms of the world.

"I don't think it will be all that short," she replied.

"Zanza is a god." Alvis gave a sideways glance, almost disgusted. "Or perhaps, now that all pretenses have been dropped, a system administrator of this generated world. And without you to aid in holding off Telethia while Shulk recovers, he will do as he pleases."

Melia held up a hand and envisioned a cloud of ether within it, holding the raw code of the computer-controlled universe.

"What is an admin to a hacker?"

She began typing like mad, as if she was surrounded by hundreds of keyboards. A revert here, a repair there, a few fixes elsewhere, her ethersense guiding her as to what she was changing. The gore around her body in the real world faded away, and all traces of the injury quickly followed. No one else noticed. They were too busy watching Fiora contest Zanza with Meyneth's Monado - a battle whose churning ether was cementing Melia's link between the world and the void.

"It's all crystal clear to me now. Ether is the raw code of the universe, with some more gifted than others at sensing and manipulating it. Now that I have perceived its behaviour from inside and outside the world at once, I have a fundamental understanding of its base nature, of how to link my existing ether skills with the axioms of physics."

With her body restored, she watched the two Monados do battle and began compiling a collection of the patterns they revealed. As they began to pile up, a grander meta-pattern started to become apparent, so she decided to fill in the missing bits with new code that matched it. It was like a jazz musician figuring out what notes fit into an improvised phrase.

Alvis's expression suddenly changed from blank to surprised. "You...what have you done?" He turned to focus on a distant part of the void. "You have..."

There was a moment of silence between the two as the patterns Melia had collected began to manifest themselves as a coalescing cloud of multi-coloured ether energy in front of her. As the code came together, an ether staff was formed.

"You have...forged your own Monado."

Melia slowly took hold of the staff. It appeared to be made of pure gold with rich hexagonal amethysts inlaid in the wing-shaped neck. The head was an open circle with a large suspended crystal in the centre, hued an etheral aqua but exuding a prismatic quality that allowed it to change colours seemingly at will. Seven Telethia-esque feathers of the same unfixed colour floated alongside the head, three to a side with the last on top. The base was shaped like the head of her Protect Staff. The etheral code surrounding the staff glowed far more brightly and densely than its surroundings.

"This..." Alvis seemed quite stunned. "This was in no future I could envision."

"I accept your apology." Melia pointed the new staff towards the projection of reality, causing it to start decomposing as it began uploading into the real world. But it would take a bit, and Meyneth had just sacrificed herself, so she had no more time to spend here. She connected her mind back into her body and closed her eyes.

Without feeling like anything had changed, she re-opened her eyes to find herself on the floor inside Mechonis Core.

Zanza laughed as he took hold of Meyneth's Monado. "This is the passage of fate!"

Melia sat up. No one was looking at her, so she took a moment to examine herself to confirm that everything was in working order. It didn't feel like she had direct control of the inner ether as she had in the void - she could sense a ghost of the connection between the universe and its underlying form, but not manipulate it.

Zanza was about to fly up and teleport away. But just as he was about to leave, he realized something was wrong and looked back down.

"You." He hovered in front of Melia, prompting everyone else to look as well. "My disciple killed you, yet you remain alive. I cannot allow such a being to exist." He crossed the two Monados and started charging an attack.

Melia reached for her new staff, but it hadn't arrived yet, and all she had was the Imperial Staff. She would have to stall. "Why do you think killing me again would have any further lasting effect?" she bluffed.

"Silence." Zanza didn't say any more, continuing to focus power with the two Monados crossed.

Fiora was the first of the others to overcome their stunned silence. "Melia, what...what is going on here? You..."

"I can explain later."

Melia saw a golden light form on her belt. She grabbed it like a handle, causing it to extend outward and take the form of the new staff. Holding it once again deepened her connection to the underlying reality of the world.

Zanza gasped and dropped the attack he was charging. "Can it be? A Monado?!"

"It is." Melia let go of the staff and spun it around in the air a few times; just like the other staffs that had chosen to match her, it was weightless and followed her every mental command. "And it doesn't like how you've stolen someone else's."

"I have every _right_ to hold these Monados! They shall only obey the _one_ true god!"

"You are no god to me. To any of us. To all in this world, and any other!"

Melia decided that since both her plans and the predicted future were pretty much rubbish at this point, she might as well start taking direct control. She took hold of her Monado and willed a vortex of water to form in the circular head, which quickly formed a tendril that extended outwards and wrapped around Shulk's motionless body. It didn't take long for its healing energies to wake him up; he looked around bewildered.

Zanza scowled and took a swipe at Melia. She managed to block it, though it knocked her askew.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you want to fight me?" She peered into the weather matrix and jostled a few nearby clouds around with a wave of the staff, which quickly combined into a massive thunderhead. "First give me a moment to stop the Mechonis from exploding."

"Lay down before me, mortal! Give up that which you have no right to hold!" Zanza didn't care for whatever she was doing, and continued to attack.

Melia allowed herself to be knocked a few steps away to buy some more time. "I expected as much."

She held up her other hand and decisively snapped her fingers in Zanza's direction. The looming thunderhead discharged a huge bolt, passing right through Zanza and coiling down through the rumbling Mechonis, setting some things on fire along the way. Several ether pipes burst, dumping a fair amount of the green liquid out of the titan. The tremors started to fade as their source of energy drained.

Zanza recovered quickly from being struck, but he was clearly shaken. "How is this possible? For there to be a third Monado?"

Melia made a downwards clawing motion up at the huge cloud, which immediately began to rain and hail; a corkscrew-like hand motion then drew an updraft around herself and her friends, protecting them from the sudden onslaught of water and ice.

"You have forced my hand early." Using the power of the two Monados he held, Zanza transformed into a grotesque beast, half resembling the Mechonis, the other half a curious combination of a Telethia and a lifeless Bionis of the past. It was clear he didn't belong; there wasn't much room for anyone to move around the core with his newly large form in the middle.

"I was hoping we'd skip this part," Melia quipped, "if only so the last we'd see of you would _not_ be a strangely-designed eyesore."

She considered how she was going to finish the job. In the original timeline, Shulk obtained the Monado III from the combined powers of the party, and used it to cut Zanza top to bottom. With a staff, she couldn't really do that.

_I have six friends here,_ she considered, easily dodging Zanza's first very slow attack. _That's perfect for a combination attack of the six elements, plus my own ether. Shulk lacks a weapon, but that shouldn't matter, we simply need a discharge of energy._

Continuing to just barely avoid Zanza's sword slashes in order to bait him into not using any ether attacks, she began to focus ether energy from the various elements around her and funnel them into the group. The burning oil from Yaldabaoth lit Reyn's gunlance on fire. Fiora was filled with the remaning charge from the thunderhead. The stormy winds swirled around Dunban's sword. Riki's biter took on the bitter chill of the falling hail. The rain filled Sharla's rifle with a watery glow. Finally, the Mechonis itself provided earthly energy that flowed into Shulk's body.

Reyn called out, "Are we supposed to be doing something?"

"In a monent." Melia stood still for a moment so she could charge and unleash her burst aura as if it were a simple art.

_Wait. We may need darkness energy as well._ It wasn't a given, but it would be awkward to have to go through the setup process all over again if it turned out that dark ether had to be part of the combination.

So she split her burst aura into two, distilling its nature into a positive and negative side. Not unlike Zanza, her right side was now glowing a white and gold mix of glee and promise, while her left side emitted a black and purple combination of distaste and vengeance. It was rather surreal to behold, and if she wasn't already ambidextrous it would have been quite difficult to keep balanced.

Shulk appeared anxious, swaying from side to side as if he was having trouble staying awake.

Melia avoided another attack. _Shulk has no weapon to contain and focus the energy I gave him, it's making him feel overwhelmed. No time to find the best opportunity - we need to act quickly._ "When I attack, everyone release your energy all at once!"

The party acknowledged the call and got ready, moving into equidistant positions.

"You meddling bacteria! Cease your resistance!" Zanza held up a large ball of pure ether on the tip of the Monados and began to swing it down.

Melia held her Monado with both hands and channelled her two charged energies into it.

"You selfish man! _Cease your **existence**!_"

The light and dark ether she unleashed blasted through Zanza's pure ether attack, tearing it apart and turning the raw energy back against him. The party quickly followed, releasing their stored energies all at once towards their foe, who was quickly drowned by a brilliant light.

"...All that I am is fading." Zanza was suddenly monotone, as if he was staring at nothing in disbelief. "The memory of a god's existence, born from the chaos of creation. It is vanishing."

Melia continued to funnel energy into the blinding brightness, watching Zanza's nature evaporate bit by bit. After what seemed like an eternity, he was gone, and nothing could be seen.

The light faded. Melia found herself alone, standing on the endless sea far to the north of the Bionis.

_...I've done it._ Over five years of stress, research, preparation, deceit, and anguish had culminated in an ultimate victory better than she had imagined: Kallian was fine, Alcamoth was untouched, no one at all had been turned into Telethia, Egil and the Mechonis had lived, and Dickson and Lorithia remained alive to pay for their treason.

She didn't know what to do with her hands; they were twitching uncontrollably. The emotion was too much. After a few seconds, it broke free, and she let loose an undignified shout alongside a huge wave of joyful ether across the ocean.

Then she whirled her staff around before bringing it to a sudden stop, freezing time for all except herself so she could have an uninterruptible nap. It was cool and refreshing to lie on the water's surface and eventually have fourteen hours of the best sleep she'd found in years.

After waking, she found Alvis standing a few steps away, back to her and facing the Bionis.

Melia slowly stood up and got his attention by restarting the flow of time. He turned to face her, face blank and arms crossed, as if he didn't approve of what she'd done but had no better answer.

The two stood in silence for several minutes.

Alvis was the first to speak. "I suppose you are waiting for me to declare you this universe's new god, and to ask you what you wish to be done with the world. Is that so?"

"...I suppose." Melia hadn't really thought about it; all her plans had been based around the story progressing mostly the same aside from Kallian and Alcamoth being saved, including Shulk being the one to decide to create the new world. _At least it's a fairly obvious decision._

"Then tell me, Creator. What is your wish?"

Melia gazed over the staff that was her Monado. It would be very disappointing to give it up and thus lose control of the nature of reality. But as with most of her life, she had to make the correct decision at the expense of her own desires.

"I wish for the creation of a world with no gods, one not limited to cycles ordained by a greater being, and allows us to live and prosper forevermore."

* * *

"H-Hey, Meria, hol up a mumment!"

Melia sighed and turned back to see Fiora clumsily jogging towards her, dragging a confused Shulk alongside.

"I rather _do_ need to rest," she tried to say diplomatically. "Please make this quick." It had been quite mentally taxing for her to be in the same room as an increasingly drunk Fiora, who was partying the hardest of the group over the new world including a new Homs body for her, so she had left to go to bed even though it was only nine o'clock.

Fiora giggled. "Only as quick as _you_ want t-to be with it! See, I've g-got an idea...a _proposssal_ for you. For _us._" She slipped back into a giggle fit that lasted a while.

Melia stood still with arms crossed, waiting impatiently.

Shulk, having no idea what any of this was about but too polite to interrupt, simply shrugged and tried to not fall down as the wobbly Fiora used him for support.

"S-So, it's basically...wellllll, I guess I ssshould _ask_ frst, you're gnna do the two-consort thing, riiiiight?"

This was one of the last things on Melia's mind. "I have never thought of it. I suppose it may be expected, but as I am already half-bloo-"

"But you c-_could_ if you _wanted_, riiiiight?"

"...that is indeed _possible_." Expecting to be interrupted again, she left out the continuation of it being extremely improbable.

Fiora's arms flapped, sloshing the remains of her most recent drink around in its glass. "So here's tthhe plan! Y-_You_ can have Shulk as your consort, if _I_ get to be your _other_ one!"

Melia spent five seconds trying to make sense of the sentence before dismissing it. "I'm sorry but you appear to be in no state to understand the consort system."

"I untersdand _plenty!_ People in Awlkamuth get to marry _two_ people! So have it be us, we can shhhare Shulk, and yuurr a real looker yuussself."

Reyn lumbered up, a bit off kilter himself but clearly still solid. "Alright you party girl, I can hear that slurring from across the way, you're going home."

"Awwww but Reyyyyn, I'm fff...fffishing for wife."

"Yeah, yeah." Reyn picked up Fiora, who didn't really fight it, and turned around. "I'll make sure she gets to sleep right. See you guys tomorrow. Afternoon probably."

Shulk watched the pair move off. "I'll never get why people drink beer. It doesn't even taste good."

Melia couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping. "Shulk disliking a common practice due to its taste? What a shock."

"Okay, you got me there."

"That said, I fully understand your true point, as has just been clearly demonstrated by Fiora making an absolute fool of herself. She would never have said the nonsensical things she did were she in full control of her faculties. Honestly, "fishing for wife"?"

Shulk half-shrugged. "Well, I mean, I kinda get where she's coming from."

Melia almost nodded before realizing what he'd said. "Pardon me?"

"Uh, well, it's...learning there's a culture that does multiple marriages is...both weird and interesting. I guess she didn't know about it until recently, because she wasn't with us during all the mess with your family."

"Be that as it may, what she described is a far cry from the reality." Melia considered elaborating but decided it should be fairly obvious to the rational Shulk.

Shulk, however, continued to question. "Why's that? You did say you don't think there's anything stopping you from having two consorts."

Melia crossed her arms. "No, but there is everything stopping me from having a _female_ consort."

"How come? Like, if..." He paused for a second to what looked like draw a triangle in his mind. "If us two married first, and then...then you took me as a consort, wouldn't that just make her your second without having to do it specifically?"

"I cannot think of anything that would prohibit such a hypothetical scenario, but I do not believe it would automatically make the auxilliary spouse a second consort, especially given the incompatible gender."

Another half-shrug came out of Shulk. "Then what's the big deal with what Fiora wants? I mean I guess we'll find out later if she actually meant it, but I don't think she was _completely_ out of herself."

"Well, I...I don't..." Melia had run out of easy counterpoints, and now had to think of a new one. "The way she spoke about "sharing" you seemed quite selfish, ignoring your opinion on the matter."

"What do you mean? I think it's fine."

"You...wait." She thought she had misheard. "You think it's _fine_?"

Shulk made a full shrug this time. "Fiora seems to think you'd be really happy if you married me, and she appears to have a thing for you herself. Sounds okay to me."

_Something's wrong,_ Melia thought with increasing worry. _Shulk's supposed to be extremely oblivious, and Fiora's not supposed to...well, to be fair the postgame scene has little evidence for any outcome, but still, she shouldn't be attracted to me, or the idea of marrying two people. Did I somehow interfere with their personalities in this new world?_

"Well," Shulk continued, "I shouldn't keep you any longer. Goodnight." He went to return to the others who remained at the party.

On one hand, Melia appreciated Shulk leaving her alone, but on the other hand, she now really wanted to interrogate him further to try and figure out what had gone wrong. The entire situation just felt fundamentally incorrect.

Having known Shulk and Fiora would reunite and re-bond several years before meeting either of them, Melia's crush on Shulk had developed in a more reserved and detached fashion, and it was tricky to fake its original bumbling form along the way. As a result, it was very jarring to see both of them show such a strange attitude towards her. They were supposed to be the story's designated romance - why had Fiora chosen to try and include her, and how was Shulk okay with it?

She was starting to feel a bit flustered. _I messed up. I ruined the new world, I bled some of my personal thoughts and repressed desires into it. I've done what Zanza showed one should not do, by manipulaing others for one's own gain._

_You are incorrect._ Alvis's voice barged into Melia's mind.

Melia whirled around expecting to see Alvis standing behind her, but saw nothing. _What? How?_

_You did not impress your will into this new world, Alvis continued. It is as free and pure as anyone could wish it to be. But the infinite web of time has many knots. By defeating Zanza differently than was foreseen, the thoughts and desires of many cannot be expected to hold unchanged. This, is **your** burden._

_What do you mean?_

There was no response.

Melia kept standing around waiting for an answer for about three minutes.

"Typical Alvis," she muttered. Giving up, she resumed the original plan of going to bed.

But the seer had still given her something to think about. Assuming he was telling the truth that any differences in others were because of the new ending to the story, rather than anything she'd accidentally changed, then it was Shulk's own decision to be okay with what Fiora was suggesting (however strange the suggestion was). And as much as she liked to think she had long given up on him, it had always sat in the back of her mind, never going away no matter how many times she suppressed it.

_It seems that many strange things shall be afoot in this new world._


	5. Remanence

Melia picked a hard candy out of the bowl. She was getting pretty good at manipulating light objects at a distance with only her mind, only making hand motions so it didn't look too eerie to onlookers. It was very convenient for moving documents around the Audience Chamber without having to wait on aides or leave the throne.

She ate the candy and considered where to turn her self-training to next. Sure, she was always busy with all that had to be done as empress, but having held a Monado for precious few minutes left her with a drive to see how far she could bend or break the laws of physics under her own power. The new world wasn't quite the same as the old one under the covers, but it did follow a lot of the same rules, and she had enough of the tiniest foothold into its inner workings that every day she pushed herself to learn how to rewrite reality ever further.

_I like how I snapped my fingers to initiate a lightning strike,_ she considered, idly rubbing her hand across the throne's armrest as if it would create static. _Perhaps I'll start with ionizing my fingers as I snap them._

There was an arrival in the Audience Chamber. Melia recognized him as the palace jailkeeper.

"Hello, Zeth." She was experimenting with running affairs slightly less formally, though she found she often slipped back after a few minutes. "What do you have to report?"

"I have news on the prime prisoner," he said.

"Do you now?" Melia leaned forward with interest.

"Yes." The jailkeeper paused for effect. "The prime prisoner has requested death."

Melia nodded. _I must admit she held out longer than expected, but no matter._ "Very well. Advance to the next phase of the torture plan." She used her telekinesis to select a prewritten document from the nearby scribe's table and hand it to the jailkeeper.

The guards in the chamber cautiously glanced at each other, with expressions of mild surprise.

The jailkeeper was similarly unprepared for the directive to continue. "Are...are you _quite sure_, Your Majesty? Would you not prefer to simply end it?"

"Of course I am sure. It is well-deserved."

Kallian, who had been reading some other documents off to the side, decided to step in. "Your Majesty, I object. I have seen your torture plan; it is vile and gruesome to an unparalleled extent. I have turned a blind eye to its illegal elements thus far, but no longer. This has gone on long enough. Give her death."

Melia didn't expect anyone else to understand. She mentally pulled a blank sheet of paper and quill to herself and began to dictate what she wrote.

"I hereby declare Lorithia Nekudiora to be outlawed from the Empire of Alcamoth. She is henceforth no longer afforded any protections of the law." She signed it with flourish.

The sense around the room was hushed shock; no one was ready to believe that the empress had such a personal vendetta that she would outlaw someone simply to enact extra torture upon them.

The jailkeeper read the first half of the torture directive and threw it on the ground. "I refuse. Kill me if you must, but I refuse to carry out these orders."

Melia dismissively waved her hand. "You need not give up your post or your life to decline my command. Be on your way. I will simply do it myself."

The jailkeeper remained still for a moment before quickly turning and leaving the hall.

_Wimp._ Melia lofted the recently-written declaration back over to the scribe's table, and took the discarded orders back into her own hands. _It may be just as well to carry out the remaining phases myself. I will need to construct a machine so I don't have to witness it..._

Kallian scowled and came to sit down in the auxilliary throne beside her. "I have to know, Melia," he said quietly enough that no one else would hear. "Why must you be so shamelessly barbaric with Lorithia? I can think of no actions one person can take that earns them a single day of the treatment you have forced upon her."

Melia didn't look him in the eye, but rather continued to stare straight ahead. "Perhaps one day I'll tell you. Suffice to say that...it is deeply personal."

"She admitted her desire to exterminate our family and society in the trial. What could be more personal than that?"

"The journey is more important than the destination."

Kallian looked away for a moment, considering the implication, before turning back. "Surely you know that continuing such torture upon her will be a grim mark on your reputation. Do you not think your lust for revenge is an abuse of your power?"

"Revenge is a theme I know much of," Melia replied. "I watched it consume both Egil and Shulk, and know how difficult it must have been for them to see the error of their ways. But I daresay I have _earned_ some abuse of power, and to do so on a single prisoner is fairly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things."

"May I remind you it is not a _single_ prisoner."

Melia rolled her eyes. "Ironically sealing Dickson in Prison Island hardly qualifies as "torture" or "abuse of power". How many of our population even remember him?"

"You don't know if Zanza has already made Lorithia immortal to natural death," Kallian muttered.

This was true; Melia had set the torture plan assuming that Lorithia would die from malnutrition at some point in the next few years. That said, "I fail to see how that's a problem."

Kallian shook his head and stood up. "My displeasure has been noted, there is little point in me continuing to re-iterate it." He left the hall.

Melia summoned a fresh sheet of paper and started sketching ideas for the torture device. She wondered if she could get Shulk to help build it without him knowing what it was - the public wasn't supposed to know anything beyond "the former minister of research has been convicted on many counts of high treason and shall be treated appropriately" - but that would require all the operational bits to be left off for later installation, and so seemed unlikely to be all that much help.

_Maybe I shall build the device directly in the cell, to amplify her feelings of fear and dread. Then perhaps pretend to forget to activate it once installed, only to do to at the least-expected moment._

The phone rang, its ringtone identifying the caller as Shulk. Having a telephone in the Audience Chamber was a new concept, but Melia wanted to give her friends a way to contact her without having to worry about travelling to Alcamoth, and it turned out to be quite useful for quickly communicating with the other settlements as well.

Melia donned her headphones and routed the call into them so she could continue drawing. "Yes, Shulk?"

A long exhalation came through first, suggesting Shulk was either exhausted or upset. "Dimitri cancelled," he said without pleasantries. "I asked why and he just refused to tell me."

"The cad." Melia immediately pulled a form off the scribe's table and started filling it out. "It's impressive how some people mismanage their last chance. He shall be lucky to ever find catering work again, I shall see to it."

"Uh, so...what do we do now then?"

"I will send the palace chefs to replace him."

"Um, you..." Shulk stuttered for a bit. "You know that Fiora said she didn't want that."

"Of course, but what alternative is there given merely three days' notice?" Melia finished the form nullifying Dimitri's catering license and put it in the outbox, before switching to writing a notice of preparation for the kitchens.

Shulk could be heard saying something to someone in the distance on the other end of the line. He was then interrupted by Fiora butting into the receiver.

"L-Look Melia, I..." She was clearly on edge and emotional. "...thanks. You saved us."

"It's nothing. Head Chef Parsimo will be by as soon as possible to collect the plans."

Fiora was heard trying to say something else before giving up and turning into distant blubbering.

Shulk got the phone back. "You're a lifesaver Melly. Literally."

Melia thought this was rather hyperbolic, but she'd given up on trying to understand why a one-day wedding ceremony was somehow more important than the rest of a life's time together. "Do not hesitate to ask for help with any other problems."

"Of course not. Later, bye." He hung up with a clatter. He tended to forget the proper telephone etiquette of allowing the other party to respond goodbye.

Melia put her headphones back on their rack, her mind starting to wander. Of all the ways the new world was different than predicted, her relationship with Shulk and Fiora was the least expected. True to her initial drunken blubbering, Fiora had made it clear over the last while that she had a lot of interest in the empress, yet though all she did Shulk was always alongside and never appeared much upset or reluctant about it. While Melia had repeatedly tried to downplay them - pushing her viewpoint that the idea was very out of place, and was unlikely to be legal given the traditionalist attitude of High Entia society on such things - Fiora insisted on taking any "no" as "not yet". And while Shulk's standpoint was much less conclusive, he also appeared to be undeterred from a three-way relationship, even after the two of them had married. On one hand, it was just what she wanted, but on the other, it was anything but.

_Every time I think of this issue,_ she grumbled internally, _I focus on the awkward and unseemly aspects of it, the parts where I worry about it being ill-fitting or what others would think of it. Why can I not instead focus on it as an opportunity for myself, as with my motivataion for the entire project I embarked upon? I've created a new timeline where five years of hard work gave me almost everything I wanted - why can't I add something being offered on a silver platter?_

_Why am I afraid of change when I made a new universe in pursuit of change?_

She pounded the armrest.

_I'm going to regret this. I am absolutely going to regret this a million times over. But I don't want to count how many times I will regret doing the opposite.  
_

Melia grabbed her agenda and added another note to the wedding day. _Allow inhibitions to be suppressed. Cease rebuffing Fiora's (or Shulk's) advances to investigate their true depth. If necessary, do not remain sober._

She replaced the booklet where she took it from. _That's that then. Whether I actually follow through shall be anyone's guess._ She went back to her drawings.

The Nopon postmaster entered the hall, holding a single plain white envelope. "Hello greetings Your Majesty. Special mail arrive with quickness."

Melia paused her drawing to look up. Receiving mail outside the normal schedule was indeed special. Her first guess was that it was from Egil; he much preferred communicating by mail so he could spend as much time as he needed to review what he was saying. "Thank you. Please dictate it."

"Of course." He started trying to open the letter. "Trying" being the operative word; for some reason he didn't appear able to tear the envelope or break the wax seal, and even jamming a letter opener into the paper did nothing at all. "mmmmmmeh-meh-meh, sorry sorry Your Majesty, will be a bit of time..."

"Oh never mind then." Melia used her telekinesis to pull the letter into her hands and look it over.

It quickly became apparent why the letter was supernaturally bound to only open for its intended recipient: the red seal was pressed with the brethrens' cross.

_Well isn't that something._ She nodded with a satisfied smirk. As noted from watching Shulk as a spectator, interdimensional combat competitions had a way of helping participants tease out their strongest powers even after their expiry - and travelling between universes again could go a long way towards her efforts to recreate her Monado.

She really did have it all.


End file.
